Bridges to Wellness
An Ancient Paradigm Revived
Welcome
Bridges to Wellness offers education, wellness assessments, strategies for support and therapeutic protocols to facilitate optimal wellness in body, mind, emotions, and spirit. Our focus is to nurture women and children. Our Goal is to promote optimal wellness by helping to resolve dis-ease before it becomes a disease. We hope to spread the understanding that “Health” is more than “absence of disease”.
Conventional medicine’s strength is detecting and dealing with disease and emergencies. However, it is not well equipped to provide understanding or resolution for the early stages of pathogenesis; where tests indicate no disease, yet the patient experiences significant dis-ease. If no supportive measures are incorporated in the early stages of pathogenesis and the causative factors are not abated, it is only a matter of time for a major issue or disease to develop. We aim to help prevent disease and increase quality of life even if disease is already present. There are different approaches for how to help the body resolve the dis-ease before it becomes disease. The strategies are often simple. Although simple can be profound, it is not always easy.
We provide supportive education tailored to the unique needs and goals of each patient, family, school or group. We also provide wellness education developed for the specific needs of healthcare and educational professionals seeking ways to increase the efficacy of what they do for their patients and students. The better our health, the better we feel, learn, and interact with others.
In life, each individual must make their own way, at their own pace. How we experience life depends on many factors including: the extent of our health; our ability to face life’s inherent tests and challenges; the choices we make; the resulting consequences; and our willingness to learn and implement better ways.
A clear assessment of your unique situation can help you to learn and understand your strengths and how to overcome weaknesses. This can help you to make wiser choices with better consequences. Well placed support and guidance can empower you to go through life’s inherent difficulties with more grace and ease; growing from the challenges to become better rather than bitter.
Whatever challenges you face and wherever you are on the spectrum of wellness to disease, it’s not too late to get support for a better way of life. It is helpful to keep in mind that Wellness is a process not an accomplishment. It is a state of balance that requires continued effort as life continues to bring new challenges for our growth. We work as a complementary resource to your doctors’ care to improve quality of life, help mitigate illness, and support you to achieve your fullest potential. If there is a history of trauma, additional support may be needed to empower transformation of the experience(s) of trauma into wellness. Although difficulties and pain are inherent in life, suffering is not required.
Our Mission
To provide Bridges To Wellness for every woman and child who is willing to take responsibility for what is within their ability. To provide options for support for each unique situation that are more effective than a general approach for the whole population. And to do so at a price each can afford.
Our Guiding Principle
Health is more than just “absence of disease”. The experience of health is defined by a balance of our unique mixture of qualities, bodily functions, emotions, and spirit. Health also requires the clarity of our 5 senses; harmony within ourselves, with others and the environment; and the awareness that our health can never be obtained at the expense of someone else’s health nor the health of the environment.
Vision
Bridges to Wellness is envisioned to become a fully integrated seamless approach to wellness on all levels that merges the best of the conventional western medical paradigm (physical and mental) with the best that ancient wisdom has to offer.
About
Bridges To Wellness was established in 2004 by Jean L. Genceli, PhD. Jean combines her training in Eastern Medicine (Ayurveda) with more than 15 years of experience as an engineer in the Aerospace Industry. Expertise in materials, thorough analysis of issues, and development of effective solutions combined with the understanding of Ayurvedic medicine, facilitates her ability to identify and assess the root cause and contributing factors of the issues you are going through. She partners with you to develop practical strategies for how you can resolve the cause(s) and support the process for achieving your wellness goals.
Jean L. Genceli has a PhD in Engineering and studied and trained in Ayurveda in the US and India. Since 2011, she has been teaching how to use the basic information of Ayurveda in simple ways that often provide profound results. She has served as a faculty member of the Ayurvedic Institute and adjunct faculty at Bastyr University. For years, she taught in the Midwifery program at Bastyr to increase the efficacy of midwives to support and better understand their clients' unique situation.
Her Journey
The idea of “Bridges To Wellness” initially came as a recurring dream that didn’t fit into her life as a scientist in Aerospace. However, she started experiencing early warnings that her health was deteriorating. Early medical tests indicated there was no disease. The false assumption that one is healthy when there is no detectable disease, supported her efforts to deny and ignore the subtle inner knowing that something was wrong.
It was only when the challenges to her health became so extensive and her life came to a standstill, that she knew something was seriously wrong… but what? One medical doctor sent her into the realm of what is now commonly called complementary and alternative medicine. At that time, she was of the opinion that anything other than “modern medicine proven by double blind scientific methods” was not valid. She was introduced to chiropractic and naturopathic medicine, therapeutic massage, acupuncture and oriental medicine, counseling, yoga, meditation, various healing arts, and Ayurvedic medicine.
It was the fundamental premises in Ayurveda that provided a clear understanding that there are multiple stages of pathogenesis. Even if disease has developed, incorporating insights from Ayurveda can provide a beneficial complement to modern medicine and naturopathic protocols. As a scientist, the insights provided by Ayurveda kindled an interest to know and understand more. Her engineering background combined with studies and training in Ayurveda created a unique synergy with which to understand the materials and function of the body, how disease develops, how to help mitigate it, and how to help prevent it.
When she experienced optimal wellness for the first time, she quickly realized that it is a process not a single accomplishment. This understanding increased her empathy, compassion and gratitude. Her life transformed from working in Aerospace for future technologies, to supporting people here and now.
Services
Wellness Assessments
Using dialog between client and consultant, guidance will be provided based on Ayurvedic Medicine. The guidance will be tailored based on the unique needs and goals of each client with the intention of assisting the client to shift from their current state of imbalance toward their goals and closer to their full potential. This guidance includes information and instruction on diet, lifestyle, breathing practices, and exercises as appropriate, for incorporation into the client’s daily life for a specified period of time. Wellness protocols might also be recommended to facilitate the process.
Wellness Protocols
Prior to any protocols, a recent wellness assessment must be completed to ensure the appropriate protocols and conditions are defined for your current situation. There are a range of protocols that might be beneficial for the particular situation. These include onsite (conducted by trained and licensed professionals in the clinic) and home based (self-administered, with professional guidance) protocols. Onsite protocols include: Marma massage therapy, guided movements, breathing exercises, lymphatic drainage, and location specific support for issues related to the back, eyes, limbs, joints, torso, digestion. Home based protocols include: all of the onsite protocols that can be taught directly to the individual or family member or helper, and some simple food as medicine protocols.
Education
Wellness education tailored to the specific needs and goals of each client, family, school or group, or health professional. Examples of general topics: Increasing the Effectiveness of Whatever You Are Doing, Healthy Digestion, Regaining Wellness, Stress Management, Improving Communications, Family or Group Agreements - Clarifying Roles and Responsibilities within Reality
Conscious Pregnancy and Postpartum
Wellness education tailored to the specific needs of the individual, couple, family or group, to prepare for the best experience and outcome for conscious conception (natural and assisted), pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum.
Location
Bridges To Wellness is located North of Seattle in Beautiful Edmonds, inside The Health and Wellness Clinic. Free parking on site.